For every art form there are “rules”, for every “rule” there are exceptions. Richard Patrick has been making such exceptions, and defying convention for 20 plus years now. Given the tremendous success he has achieved with his band, Filter, it came as no surprise that my interview with he and his guitarist Jonny Radtke was nothing less than extraordinary.

One of the first things every good journalist is taught is to always control the interview. There are, however, rare occasions where brilliance comes to life by simply listening, and enjoying the rants of a charismatic individual. I invite you to sit back and relax, and enjoy one of the most unconventional, yet enjoyable conversations with rock n roll royalty as we talk about everything from addiction, to a-dickhead, who nearly killed Patrick’s wife.

AWAY-TEAM: First and foremost, I’d like to congratulate you on the release of the new album, The Sun Comes Out Tonight, which hits stores June 4th. It’s a great record, I’ve been listening to it non-stop for about a week and a half now, if that tells you anything…

RICHARD PATRICK: Thank You!

JONNY RADTKE: Thank You!

AWAY-TEAM: I’m really impressed with it! Now, I understand this album was originally intended to be released independently, under the title “Gurney & The Burning Books”?…

RICHARD PATRICK: That was always a working title…

JONNY RADTKE: I mean we didn’t know, we were…

RICHARD PATRICK: I told the guy like three times. I was like, ‘This is a working title.’ And he went ‘Oh Burning Books, and da-da’ I was like ‘It’s not really gonna be called Burning Books’

AWAY-TEAM: (laughs)

JONNY RADTKE: We were in between tours, when we were initially writing stuff, and we had a few demos under our belt, and at that time it was still premature. We didn’t know where we were gonna be, like as far as what label we were gonna go with, or whatever. So it was sort of just us kinda having the freedom to do whatever we wanted, and that interview, the guy just sort of kinda ran with it. It was just a working title. Obviously when we went into the studio for real, and we were signed by Wind-Up Records, we had obviously a direction we were headed in. Something that we kept in mind throughout the recording process.

AWAY-TEAM: So, I mean is that true? Were you intending to release it independently, and then something came up with Wind-Up? How did that come about?

JONNY RADTKE: I mean, we didn’t know…

RICHARD PATRICK: I think Wind-Up was looking for a signing. Gregg Wattenberg (Wind-Up Co-Owner) has always been a huge fan of my voice… I think they were already pretty… no, we got signed before we wrote “What Do You Say”. We started emailing Gregg Wattenberg, and he had met us once, and said ‘I wanna sign you guys, but I want you to write the fucking rock hit, that like we’ve all been waiting for!’ And it was like ‘Okay’, and we just kinda listened to “Hey Man, Nice Shot” and Short Bus in general. Then Jonny and I sat there with Bob Marlette and pumped out five different parts that we loved, and as they were putting it together in the computer doing drums and stuff, I just started hearing ‘Hey, What do you say’. We sent that to the label, and they were like ‘Great! Go in, finish the record. We’d love more hits, but you’ve got your first single, we’ll get this off the ground and, if we have to we’ll just release the single, and you guys can finish the record at your leisure.’ And then they were like ‘No. Finish it, and put on as many radio singles as you can.’ So for us, it was like ‘Okay, let’s make it catchy.’ You know, like “Self-Inflicted” is the other one where we intended to sit down and make something that was…

AWAY-TEAM: That kind of answered one of the questions I was gonna get into. Ya know, a lot of guys will go into the studio with something in mind like, ya know, this is gonna be the heaviest record I’ve ever made or…

RICHARD PATRICK: Right.

AWAY-TEAM: And I noticed that, it shows that you went back and listened to Short Bus, and some of the older stuff.

Richard Patrick-Filter

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah. Also, Gregg Wattenberg said ‘We need super fucking angry, heavy Filter! We need that. That’s what the label needs, that’s what your audience wants. That’s what Filter needs!’ So I was finally… cuz Bob Marlette is a great producer, and I’m not gonna say anything bad about him. It was kinda like, I want fucking heavy man, I want heavy shit! I was kinda saying that even on The Trouble With Angels, and we always had this bright shiny, glisteney chorus, and I just remember thinking to myself ‘I wanna fucking scream my ass off!’ The only song we came close to on that, was “The Inevitable Relapse”. So this was like, ‘Fuck it! Great! Let’s scream a bunch of different choruses on the record, let’s have that screamed out, aggressive sound that everyone wants!’ That left us with a lot of room for “Surprise”, and “First You Break It”, “It’s My Time”, and “It’s Just You”. Then there were others like “We Hate It When You Get What You Wanted” that’s straight up industrial.

AWAY-TEAM: Right. Jonny, I know you’ve been a friend of Rich’s for a while now, but what was it like actually stepping into the studio for the first time with, not only Richard, but a legend in his own right in Bob Marlette?

JONNY RADTKE: It was amazing! It was an amazing experience, we started working on stuff before we went into the studio, and it just felt effortless. We both have the same influences, and we both know where we wanna go as far as songwriting, and what we like and think is cool, and we compliment each other very well. But at the same time it’s surreal sitting next to the dude looking at me, and kinda like ‘Fuck yeah, we’re working on something together’ It’s awesome, it’s amazing! And then, I’ve always known of Bob, and it was my first time working with him, and it was the same thing. The guy just shared our vision, ya know? He understood the kind of album that we needed to make. We bounced a lot of ideas off each other, we were around each other every day, and all the creative juices were flowing. Sometimes you get three people in a room together that… Rich and Bob are accomplished songwriters, and myself; there could be a lot of ego, there could be alot of disagreement, but that wasn’t the case. We were, Rich and I were always on the same page.

RICHARD PATRICK: Bob and I are old enough that we can’t tolerate; we’ve had other people that we’ve worked with and stuff, and it was just like ‘Man this isn’t working.’ Jonny is the kind of guy where he grew up listening to either bands that I’ve respected, or bands that I’m from, or bands that I was currently in and he always kind of respected that. Plus he’s got all the other stuff that I like, that he likes; you know A Perfect Circle, Tool, Pantera, Deftones, Ministry, and he comes from Chicago so there’s the entire scene that was going on there. So, ya know, it either works or it doesn’t, and in this case it was like ‘Hey dude, let’s make this, let’s do that’ and I was like ‘Yeah that’s great!’ and the songs wrote themselves. When it feels like it’s effortless, that’s when you gotta kinda just back up and just… He’s the only person I made a deal with BEFORE we went into the studio. We had already messed around with some songs, and I was like ‘When this record comes out, this is exactly what you’re getting. This is it.’ The ownership of the song is perfectly split. It’s not ‘I’m 60, you’re 40′. It’s not, ya know…

AWAY-TEAM: Right, right. It’s your song, it’s not YOUR song.

JONNY RADTKE: Right.

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah. And having said that, here I am singing the vocals, and it’s like ‘Hey, what do you think of this melody?’ (changes voice) ‘Hey maybe try that’ So all of a sudden, it’s just a common good of the best idea wins, and there’s no ego, and it’s all been set in stone. There was nothing to gain from being the guy that wrote the melody and the lyrics, because I’m not going for 50 percent, I’m just going for the common good of the song. So, a lot of stuff like that. Everything is easy, instead of just me. (There’s a knock at the door, and in comes catering with a platter)

AWAY-TEAM: Rich, you’ve been sober for ten years now, which I wanna congratulate you on…

RICHARD PATRICK: Oh, thank you man!

AWAY-TEAM: … I know you’ve had songs in the past that have dealt with addiction issues, “This Finger’s For You” seems like it may be another one, is that true? What was the inspiration behind that song?

RICHARD PATRICK: Umm, that was one of those random kind of songs where it was like I’m upset. I don’t know exactly what started it, but ‘I can’t drink gin. I can’t do some of that.’ I can’t fall back into the old person that I used to be. The drug years, the alcoholic, drug years I call the “Gonzo Years” where I was literally in a Hunter S. Thompson phase of my life. I was trying to press the boundary of mind-altering substances to the point where, ya know, I’m in the middle of “Welcome to the Fold” and the bridge was 17 minutes long as it was. I’m sitting there going ‘Mama gimme my medicine’, and I’m peaking on mushrooms, and I’m trying to describe being a little kid being held up by this giant tree that is my mom, and just freestyling into this weird shit. Trying to capture what it’s like being on just a ton of drugs, in the same way that Dr. Hunter S. Thompson would for any of his books, or any of his reporting. But eventually, you end up not really learning anything, you’ve learned everything and now you’re just a drug addict. So as soon as I started feeling like that I pulled out. And I use the drug years as fodder for so many amazing songs. “The Sun Comes Out Tonight” is about being a “falling through the cracks” type of kid. Good person, but had nothing to do, couldn’t afford anything, I could afford some cheap drugs, and I could walk around the City of Cleveland, Ohio on acid and break into abandoned buildings, and have a look on the city that no one else would have because everybody else is in a club, or in a home, or a movie, or bar or whatever. So, ya know, I’m really proud that I went through that phase because; and then once you get really addicted to drugs and alcohol, then all of a sudden that’s a personal battle, and you gotta fight out of that somehow. It takes a couple years, and then you’re finally grateful that ‘Wow, I can’t believe how much I learned!’

AWAY-TEAM: Wow!

RICHARD PATRICK: A lot of stuff right there.(laughs)

AWAY-TEAM: Amazing stuff! (all laugh) You mentioned “Watch The Sun Come Out Tonight”, you’ve always been one to sort of defy convention, and I know you did this on The Trouble With Angels, you actually use a bit of vocal effects on that…

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah.

AWAY-TEAM: …which I’m normally not a big fan of, but your voice lends itself so well to it; not to mention that we all know you can sing your ass off without it…

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah, that’s a vocoder. Rick James did a lot of that stuff.

JONNY RADTKE: It’s basically your voice coming through a keyboard.

AWAY-TEAM: Yeah, like a synthesized voice.

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah, it’s totally an effect, and see that’s the thing. The first entire record was all programmed drums, on purpose, ya know fingers out (extends both middle fingers). We don’t need a neve console, we need this fucking computer and we’re gonna make it work. And then we’re gonna run it through a neve console, and mix it, and that was the idea. We were just literally leaving Nine Inch Nails,and before when Trent and I were working together in Nine Inch Nails we were listening to bands like Ministryand Skinny Puppy. I was never gonna be in a rock band again with like, the regular format. Because once you experience all the different crazy sounds you can make on a computer, you gotta take that. Now “The Inevitable Relapse”, I took a lot of shit for that, apparently I’m allowed to use drum machines, but I’m not allowed to use an obvious effect. Because the song is about going to the club to score, and then the “relapse” is “Drink it, Drink it, Snort it, Smoke it.” I took a lot of shit for that, and undeservedly so.

AWAY-TEAM: I’d have to agree with that. Now there are certain people who make their entire career out of that…

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah, I mean I understand getting sick of Chris Brown and stuff like that, but dude. The interesting about that is, here’s this effect and it’s in your industrial rock band for half a second to make you feel like you were in the club, and then it’s all back to normal vocals.

AWAY-TEAM: Yeah, it’s not very long at all.

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah, and it was the first song that was released to the fans, and they shit the bed, and completely freaked out like ‘Oh my God are you gonna do this?’ And I was just like ‘Oh God, here we go.’

AWAY-TEAM: (Laughs)

JONNY RADTKE: But now with this song, I think it’s…

RICHARD PATRICK: That song is, honestly we stole that idea from The Deftonesso we’re not even the first band to do that.

AWAY-TEAM: Over the course of your career, you’ve done a few cover songs, what’s the coolest cover you’ve ever heard of one of your songs?

RICHARD PATRICK: Well you know what, Brooke Whitesang “Take A Picture”, and we have the copy because we’re trying to do some stuff with it in film. It’s actually Brooke White, the song, and Mitch Marlow has done some stuff with it. It’s an amazing cover, maybe we’ll get that released somehow. Then there’s all kinds of people doing “Hey Man, Nice Shot”, it’s kinda wild. Then I met Shaun Morgan from Seether,and I was like (in a low, mean sounding voice) “Yeah I heard your cover.” (all laugh) But I was just messing with him, he’s a great guy, he said some good things to me. It’s a flattering, amazing thing that people would cover your music. You know who else did it, Lifehousedid “Take A Picture”; so there’s a whole bunch of people out there covering our stuff.

AWAY-TEAM: One of your covers, “Happy Together”, is now being featured in the movie The Great Gatsby.

Jonny Radtke & Richard Patrick-Filter

Speaking of movies, obviously you’re the rock star of the family, and your brother is a successful actor, and it’s often been said that every singer wants to be an actor, and every actor a singer. Have you guys ever talked about anything like that, has Robert ever been like ‘Hey man, let me…

RICHARD PATRICK: Performance is amazing! He did, he was trying to get me to be an actor back when I was in my drug phase so I wasn’t into it. Performing is awesome, and when you have an opportunity to look into a camera or act in something, Jonny and I actually acted in our video. We had a cameo role in our video for “What Do You Say”, which is a great little short movie.

JONNY RADTKE: Yeah, it’ll be out soon. We both had this little acting cameo.

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah, it was like ‘Look upset.’ or ‘Look like you’re thinking about it.’ (all laugh)

JONNY RADTKE: Cook that steak! (laughs)

RICHARD PATRICK: Cook that fucking steak! (laughs)

JONNY RADTKE: I think this dude would be an amazing actor! We fuck around all the time on the tour bus, we’re like brothers. If we’re not focused on work related stuff, we’re joking about stuff. He’s got his routines and shit, I think he would be perfect. You could see him in like a Vince Vaughn, you know that squad of dudes, Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, all those guys, Jonah Hill…

AWAY-TEAM: Well I got to see his Forrest Gump first-hand! (all laugh) [Editors Note: Prior to the commencement of recording, we engaged in an ice-breaking conversation that culminated in Richard comparing his life to that of Forrest Gump, and doing a hilarious impersonation of him]

JONNY RADTKE: I’d actually like to see him in a film. I think he could do it. I think he could also do dramatic work as well. Me, on the other hand, I don’t know. I’m not an actor, and never really thought of myself as one! (laughs)

RICHARD PATRICK: I think you could easily do it. I think performing is all linked up man! Writing, performing, creativity; it’s all hooked up in some way. Even though my brother Robert does not have a musical bone in his body! Check out Filter-So I Quit w/Robert Patrick; it’s amazingly funny!

AWAY-TEAM: I definitely will! (laughs) You’re also close to an Academy Award Winner in your former bandmate, and friend, Trent Reznor…

RICHARD PATRICK: T-Rez!

AWAY-TEAM: He’s just announced that he’s got this creative fire burning inside, and he’s bringing back Nine InchNailsto release a new album.

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah, which I knew about for a couple months. (laughs) I didn’t wanna say anything…

AWAY-TEAM: (laughs) Let me ask you this, I know when you were a member of the band you didn’t really get to record too much with him; is that something you guys have ever talked about? Maybe doing some sort of collaborating in the future? You know, not necessarily for either band, but in general?

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah, I mean I think it’d be interesting if I sang on something. He had a thing that he was trying to do called Tapeworm,he asked me if I wanted to do something with that, I don;t know if that ever saw the light of day, but… He’s asked me, and now that I’m older, I certainly would wanna do it. When I was younger I was too nervous, too crazy, you know it was back when I was drinking, crazy addict reporting from gonzo land! (all laugh) But the short answer is absolutely, I’d love to do something. I’d love to sing on something, I’m sure he’s got a bunch of music, ya know. (Trent, I hope you’re listening!!!)

AWAY-TEAM: Speaking of former bandmates, Frank Cavanaugh had some pretty harsh comments for you after an incident in which your wife was nearly run off the road because she had a bumper sticker that said “Ban Assault Weapons”…

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah. (seemingly puzzled by the comments)

AWAY-TEAM: Really strange. The first thing I thought of, ya know Frank’s a military guy, and most military guys I know are staunch conservatives…

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah it’s kinda wild…

AWAY-TEAM: …you’re a liberal. That must have made for some tough times touring, and working together…

RICHARD PATRICK: I was out of my mind when I was younger. I didn’t really have any political stance.

AWAY-TEAM: Have you spoken to Frank since everything?

RICHARD PATRICK: Ya know Frank…

JONNY RADTKE: I talk to Frank all the time, and right before that happened it was like…

RICHARD PATRICK: You talk to him on the phone?

JONNY RADTKE: We text, we email, he’s been a friend of mine for quite a long time. Every time I come through Texas, he’d come to shows. But yeah, when I saw that comment that Frank left I was like ‘Whoa!’

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah, because I had said something like ‘The Tea Party’…

JONNY RADTKE: We were talking about our opinion on gun control, which is to ban assault weapons, and he kinda jumped on Rich about that!

RICHARD PATRICK: He jumped on it, he was like ‘I can’t believe you would say we’re all treasounous’, and I’m like “You’re obstructing the constitution. You’re obstructing getting the government working. You’re attacking the government. That’s treason to me.” The United States operates with a manual, and it’s called The Constitution. It’s an instruction pamphlet from the people that made the country, and you need to follow it! Filibustering 250 times in the Senate, to block every single thing that the president wants to try and work on, isn’t what we voted for! We voted for common sense! The Bush Administration had eight years, they were filibustered six times. The Obama Administration is not even through it’s fifth year, and it’s had 250 filibusters in the Senate. What the fuck is going on? Because I want a vote on gun control, eighty percent of the people in the United States want a background check. Every single thing that they’re talking about, in Sandy Hook he fumbled on the second clip, so he was putting the 30-60 rounds, and he dropped the first one and fumbled, eleven children ran out the door. Got the clip in, killed twenty, so practicality, common sense; the laws of this country are what separate us from anarchy, right? Society is based on laws, it’s based on rules. We wanna ban anything beyond eleven bullets, or ten bullets, apparently that’s an attack on the 2nd Amendment right. Okay, so you can’t have a grenade, you can’t have bazookas, but you can have a machine gun that fires as many times as you want. So it’s essentially an automatic weapon, somehow that’s an attack on the 2nd Amendment. Well, maybe we should look at the 2nd Amendment. This is just three gentlemen sitting here talking about this, my wife, we have a “Ban Assault Weapons” sticker on our car because why not? They’re not practical! You don’t need them, and if we’re in an arms race with our government, well they have the Atomic Bomb, they have tanks, they have more Abrams tanks than you could imagine! So if there’s a domestic dispute, they’ve got like 10,000 tanks; roll that into any fucking major city, and you’re done! I don’t understand what they’re going for. when I think about Ted Nugent, it blows my mind. I almost hear a panicked gun nut, not too far away from where David Koresh was! It’s like ‘Dude, chill the fuck out!!!‘, ya know? I’ve never owned a gun in my life. I’ve shot some guns, what’s the big fucking deal!!! You shoot a gun, ‘Wow I’ve hit the target!’, whoopty-fucking-do!!! Action movies are great, I love action movies, I don’t wanna go out and fucking kill anybody! It’s availability, it’s availability to the VT guy, it’s availability to the Columbine guys. It’s gun show loopholes, you know I went to a gun show once and they were like ‘So have you ever been arrested for a felony?’ and I’m like ‘Oh yeah, absolutely. Felonious assault with a can of beer.’ They’re like (in his best redneck voice) ‘Dammit son, you’re not supposed to say that! You’re supposed to lie!’ And I’m like ‘Really? I don’t want a gun.’ (cue redneck voice again) ‘Oh I thought you wanted to buy this thing.’ ‘No I don’t. I actually was just looking at it.’ (redneck voice) ‘Alright, well I didn’t hear anything anyways’. They don’t give a fuck, they just wanna sell guns, they don’t give a fuck who they’re selling them to! I don’t know, I’m so far left I’m in the middle. I’m so far left of the Tea Party, I’m moderately in the middle! I talk to Republicans all the time, and I’m like ‘So what about banning assault weapons?’ and they’re like ‘Okay, it’s practical.’ I’m like ‘You’re a Republican. What the fuck happened to your party?!!!’ It’s Tea-publicans! That’s who’s running the government! They’re using the stunt that, every time school’s in session, they’re pulling the fucking fire alarm! So every time everybody wants to get together for school, they pull the filibuster fire alarm! When are Americans gonna figure that out? These are the same people that (return of the redneck voice hilarity) ‘Know there’s something going on out there in that Area 51, and it’s aliens, I’ma tell ya!’ It’s the same shit, they’re the same fucking folks! (Redneck voice over the laughter of Jonny and myself) ‘I know that JFK was assassinated by the CIA back it the day! That’s the real story! What Lee Harvey Oswald, he was the guy in the grassy knolllll!!!!!!’ That’s who’s doing this shit! I don’t like it!

AWAY-TEAM: I’m a gun owner, but it’s for the protection of my family…

RICHARD PATRICK: You know what? I’ve probably been a gun owner at some point in my life.

AWAY-TEAM: It’s crazy nowadays, with the home invasions and shit! I’ve got a daughter almost the same age as yours, and I need to protect my family! But I’m a RESPONSIBLE gun owner, I keep it in a safe etc., etc…

RICHARD PATRICK: I honestly, the minute I get a chance, I’m gonna go buy a shotgun. I’m gonna buy a shotgun, I want a 12 gauge pump shotgun. I don’t want the big, huge, ridiculous long one. I just want the pump one that’s kinda shorter. Literally just to kinda scatter some bird shot, and that’s it. I understand the necessity to own a weapon, and lock it up in a safe, and put a lock on the trigger, and your kids can never find it. It’s only memorized in your head somewhere, or locked away on a hard drive somewhere. I stand behind my open-ended request to debate Rush Limbaugh and Ted Nugent. The debate’s gonna be simple, cuz I’m just gonna ask some questions and let them rant on about like (Limbaugh voice) ‘Buh, duh, duh. It’s just a scare tactic by Democrats. Global warming is totally made up by the Obama Administration. Who we all know resides in Kenya.’ You know, it’s just like their crazy wacko fucking shit! (laughs) I wanna ask Rush Limbaugh to his face, “Dude, I make music. I’m trying to bring people together, and I’m trying to make the world a better place. What are you doing? Cuz I know you’re rich, you’ve already made your money.’ But stirring up the fringe? How can that be, I know Bill O’Reilly’s like ‘Hey I don’t care, I’m doing it for the money.’ There’s guys that wanna hear the Democratic point of view, the liberal stuff. The far right is way crazier! What’s the worst thing a Democrat has done? What’s the worst thing? Are they denouncing science? Maybe they’re denouncing religion in schools, actually I don’t want a fucking church in my school! I want the church at church! What is so wrong from the liberal point of view? Where are the liberal extremists? What, PETA? Or the people trying to get between toxic waste dumping out in the ocean? I don’t know, some of the extreme far left, with the burning of those houses for infringing on forests, I get that. I’m against that, no one should burn someone’s property. How is it somehow the Obama Administration is the far left?

AWAY-TEAM: So we’re here for the opening night of the Summerland Tourwith your band, Filter,as well as Sponge (whose sound check graced our eardrums throughout this interview), Live,and Everclear. What’s the band you most look forward to seeing tonight?

JONNY RADTKE: I can’t wait to see all of them!

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah. I mean, how are we gonna pick a favorite? They’re all awesome bands.

JONNY RADTKE: The other three bands have all had great success over the years. Really cool songs, and we’ve all known each other, for the most part, for many years. So already today’s been kind of a ‘Hey it’s good to see you again’

AWAY-TEAM: High School Reunion type of thing.

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah, yeah.

JONNY RADTKE: It’s gonna be fun for all the fans, but it’s a treat for all of us too. For all of us to be back in a room together, and hanging out.

AWAY-TEAM: Rich, last but not least, I know you just got a new tat a couple days ago…

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah.

AWAY-TEAM: So let’s see it! What did you get?

RICHARD PATRICK: (shows arm)

AWAY-TEAM: Oh nice, for Sloan. (Rich’s daughter) That’s cool!

RICHARD PATRICK: My daughter Sloan. She is so, she’s just got such an amazing go-getter attitude. Just fearless, ya know. First day of pre-school she’s marching into pre-school holding her bags, her backpack was bigger that her, and she’s like ‘Let’s go!’ (laughs) She walks in ‘Whatta ya got here?’ Ya know, puts it in her little cubbie at school and just like...

AWAY-TEAM: Yeah, they’re amazing. They’re life changers!

RICHARD PATRICK: Yeah, and the funny thing is that a million years ago, it was that emotional bond that made us more successful, way more so than all of the other bi-peds. The brain would start to get bigger to grow more emotional. So having all of these super strong emotional ties, the byproduct of that is what gave us all of this intelligence. Isn’t that amazing? So when you have a kid, you’re so connected, and it’s like ‘I have to live as long as I possibly can. I have to take care of myself’ (laughs) When I was 30, I did not care. I was like ‘I don’t wanna be 40. I don’t give a fuck. I’d rather die. Who cares?’ I was like ‘I’m good. Became a rock star. Sold millions of records…’ Then all of a sudden when you have kids you’re like ‘Nope. I need to see her grow up. I need to protect her when she’s 30, 40, 50. I’m gonna eat my spinach.’

AWAY-TEAM: Yeah I know, it’s amazing what they do to us! Well hey, thank you both!

RICHARD PATRICK & JONNY RADTKE: Thank You!

AWAY-TEAM: It’s been a huge honor, and a great pleasure to speak with both of you, and I look forward to seeing you tear it up out there tonight! (And tear it up they did!)

“I’ve been less than honest about what I’ve really been up to lately. For the last year I’ve been secretly working non-stop with Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder on a new, full-length Nine Inch Nails record, which I am happy to say is finished and frankly fucking great. This is the real impetus and motivation behind the decision to assemble a new band and tour again. My forays into film, HTDA and other projects really stimulated me creatively and I decided to focus that energy on taking Nine Inch Nails to a new place. Here we go!”